There are times when the beauty of the rainforest really jolts the emotions — and the memory. As Cede Prudente (a superb photographer and nature guide) and I recently gazed at this stunning giant towering over the forest, we both started reciting "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree"...
The tree in question is a Kompassia excelsa, known locally as menggaris. Luckily for the tree (and us), it has no value as timber — it's hollow at the core — so still stands tall in the logged forest. The trunk is so smooth and rises so high before the branches begin that bears and orangutans cannot climb it to steal the honey from the nests that the bees so cleverly build here.
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